LiturgyLink

a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday

You are here: Home / Archives for call to worship

call to worship

CTW: we want to see miracles

By Leave a Comment

Leader:  We come to see glory revealed.
People: We want to see miracles happen.
Leader:It is a time for miracles.
It is a time of new understanding
when God’s steadfast love becomes manifest.
People: O may God’s love become manifest in us!
Leader: May glory be revealed today.
Submitted by Rev. Elsa Peters.

CTW: called by name

By Leave a Comment

We have been claimed by the God who calls us children.
We, the redeemed, have been called by name.
As with the Israelites, God promises to pass with us through the water.
We will not fear, for God is with us!
The rivers shall not overwhelm us for God is our guide and our protector.
Through God’s saving grace, the waters that tested us
are now the waters that wash us and nourish us.
Great is the Fount of Every Blessing,
ever flowing, ever redeeming, ever claiming us as God’s children.
Come, let us worship the God who washes us in grace.

Submitted by Rev Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY

Prayer for the New Year

By Leave a Comment

This is a prayer modeled after the ancient New Year prayers or “first-footing” prayers of Scotland and northern England where villagers often went house to house wishing each other a good year.  

It is a reciprocal prayer where the worship leader first models the intention and the congregation offers a blessing.  The roles are then reversed.  If the congregation has a large door through which most of the congregation enters and exits, it would be appropriate and meaningful to have an usher fling the door open near the beginning of the prayer. (Unless, or course, it’s below freezing outside!)
The prayer is followed by a joyful, opening song, hymn, or carol. 
A Common Prayer for the New Year 
One: This day is a new day that has never been before.
This year is a new year, opening the door to transformation.
One: Let us open the door of our hearts.
One: Enter, Lord Christ—
All: that we may feel the joy of your presence.
One: You give us life,
All: and we welcome you with opening hearts.
One: I turn now to face you.
I open my life to you.
Be the light shining on my face, O Beloved;
be the blessing in my eyes,
and the fire in my heart.
All: May the inner eye of your soul 
behold the beauty within you;
may your outer eye behold the beauty around you—
may you see your neighbors, your loved ones,
and those you find difficult to love 
as treasured gifts shaped by God’s good and generous hands.
Silence
One: Enter, Lord Christ—
I feel joy in your presence!
All: I turn now to face you.
I open my life to you.
Be the light shining on my face, O Beloved;
be the blessing in my eyes,
and the fire in my heart.
One: May the inner eye of your soul
behold the beauty within you;
may your outer eye behold the beauty around you—
may you see your neighbors, your loved ones,
and those you find difficult to love
as treasured gifts shaped by God’s good and generous hands.
Silence
All: Enter, Lord Christ—
I feel joy in your presence!
Submitted by Dr. Chris Neufeld-Erdman, Davis Community Church, CA

prayer: Christmas God

By Leave a Comment

Christmas God,
because you came to us as a helpless little baby,
we are reminded that each of us, young and old alike, are your children.
Through the incarnation of your Son, Jesus Christ,
the Word has been made flesh and light has shattered the darkness.
Bless this our worship and lead us to your everlasting light.  Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY

CTW: a new year

By Leave a Comment

A new year begins, and with it new opportunities to preach the Gospel!
    We give thanks to God for the year past,
and look with anticipation at what God will bring in the year to come.
God has destined us for adoption as God’s children,
the season of Christmas reminds us of the fulfillment of that adoption.
    We are God’s children, and the Lord is our God!
In Christ, we have obtained an inheritance;
    We, who have set our hope in Christ, live for the praise of his glory!
Come, let us worship the newborn King!

Submitted by Rev. Stephen M. Fearing, Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, NY